Coach Gibson has faith in his team

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Galle, Sri Lanka – West Indies Head Coach Ottis Gibson is backing his players to do very well on the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka. The former West Indies fast bowling allrounder, who took over the job in late February, said he was pleased with the team's showing in the 1st ERI Test match at the Galle International Stadium.

“We are over 100 runs ahead, and [on Friday], we’ll come with the sort of attitude to have a go and see what happens. We can’t have any other attitude, but to come out, and put in the same sort of effort we put in over the last four days,” the 41-year-old said.

“We know it’s going to be tough, but we still got a 100-plus lead. If we get a couple of wickets early, who knows what will happen. But the guys have to believe that they can still get something positive out of the game. We had a lot of positives, but winning would be the ultimate.”

West Indies have dominated the Test match with Chris Gayle making a monumental 333 in the first innings of 580-9 declared. Sri Lanka following-on 202 runs behind on first innings, were 89-0 when heavy rain prompted an early close on Thursday.

“They’ve done a lot of physical work, and that physical work is demanded out there at the moment in the middle, and you’ve seen the guys are still hanging in and going strong. As soon as you start to believe, you see a change in attitudes on the field as well and we are here to play competitive cricket and you’ve seen four competitive days from us,” Gibson said.

“I’ve come to the West Indies with a plan, and a mindset of winning. During our camp in Barbados, we spoke of what we can achieve from this tour, and people are beginning to show a lot more belief in themselves.”